05/24/2002

Weddings - May 23, 2002
LOPEZHERNANDEZ
Yolanda Lopez and Fabian Hernandez were married at 2 p.m. Saturday at St. John Neumann Catholic Church. Victor Wanjura officiated.

Bridal courtesy
GINGER MADDOX & CHARLTON HICKS
Ginger Maddox and Charlton Hicks were honored with a wedding shower from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. May 16 in the home of Vickie Luckenbach.

Bridal courtesies
TIFFANY MARTINSON
Tiffany Martinson, bride-elect of Casey Jones, was honored April 28 with a bridal shower in the home of Sherry Proctor.

Engagements - May 24, 2002
GAONAZUNIGA
Melissa LeAnne Gaona and Carlos Demetrio Zuniga, both of Lorenzo, announce their engagement. The couple will marry June 15 at San Lorenzo Catholic Church in Lorenzo.

Engagements - May 23, 2002
KAUFFMANTHEDFORD
Bobby and Jeana Kauffman of Levelland announce the engagement of their daughter, Casi Dion, to Jason Stanley Thedford, son of Mace and Judy Granado of Rowlett and Stan and Sheri Thedford of Ivanhoe.

Let us share your day
Engagement announcements are published Tuesdays through Saturdays as space permits. They must be submitted at least a month before the wedding. They may include a photo of the couple.

Impressive 'Episode II' important part of grand tale
Even as the film opens with a failed assassination attempt, it should be clear that "Star Wars: Episode II  Attack of the Clones" is a part of a whole, a chapter in a novel, and it was not made for those who hadn't already entered the saga on the ground floor.
Nor was it ever meant to stand alone.

William Kerns' Movie Reviews
Enough
The seeds of this story deal with betrayal, spousal abuse, domination and vengeance.
In the hands of usually more capable director Michael Apted, however, potential
drama quickly is reduced to uninteresting, boring, predictable "Sleeping with
the Enemy"-type disaster. In truth, patrons already know the ending when they
walk in; we hope the setup will be intelligent enough to make us care by the
time that ending arrives. Sorry. This is a very bad movie. One can almost sense
the actors  well, maybe not J-Lo  cringing when reciting horrible
dialogue from this cheesy script. Manipulative? Duh! Billy Campbell begs for
boos with sexist, violent speeches. Even a fight coach spells out what will
happen. It's a poor Lifetime cable movie on a direct route to video.

Annoying bonus materials hurt 'Memento' special edition
Selected home-video releases:
"Memento"  Someone at Sony wisely decided on a DVD reissue of last year's big indie hit, starring Guy Pearce as a vengeful husband with no short-term memory. Unfortunately, some home-vidiot designers decided to make viewers jump through hoops to access the special features in this two-disc set.

Annoying bonus materials hurt 'Memento' special edition
Selected home-video releases:
"Memento"  Someone at Sony wisely decided on a DVD reissue of last year's big indie hit, starring Guy Pearce as a vengeful husband with no short-term memory. Unfortunately, some home-vidiot designers decided to make viewers jump through hoops to access the special features in this two-disc set.

William Kerns' Movie Reviews
Enough
The seeds of this story deal with betrayal, spousal abuse, domination and vengeance.
In the hands of usually more capable director Michael Apted, however, potential
drama quickly is reduced to uninteresting, boring, predictable "Sleeping with
the Enemy"-type disaster. In truth, patrons already know the ending when they
walk in; we hope the setup will be intelligent enough to make us care by the
time that ending arrives. Sorry. This is a very bad movie. One can almost sense
the actors  well, maybe not J-Lo  cringing when reciting horrible
dialogue from this cheesy script. Manipulative? Duh! Billy Campbell begs for
boos with sexist, violent speeches. Even a fight coach spells out what will
happen. It's a poor Lifetime cable movie on a direct route to video.

Entertainment Briefly
Musical collaboration planned at Blue Light
Billed as The Modern Day Highwaymen, members of four of Texas' fastest rising bands  Mike McClure of The Great Divide, Matt Martindale of Cooder Graw, Cody Canada of Cross Canadian Ragweed and Jason Boland of The Stragglers  will share the stage and perform acoustic Americana and roots music at 10 p.m. Wednesday at the Blue Light, 1806 Buddy Holly Ave. in the Depot District.

Entertainment Briefly
Musical collaboration planned at Blue Light
Billed as The Modern Day Highwaymen, members of four of Texas' fastest rising bands  Mike McClure of The Great Divide, Matt Martindale of Cooder Graw, Cody Canada of Cross Canadian Ragweed and Jason Boland of The Stragglers  will share the stage and perform acoustic Americana and roots music at 10 p.m. Wednesday at the Blue Light, 1806 Buddy Holly Ave. in the Depot District.

Impressive 'Episode II' important part of grand tale
Even as the film opens with a failed assassination attempt, it should be clear that "Star Wars: Episode II  Attack of the Clones" is a part of a whole, a chapter in a novel, and it was not made for those who hadn't already entered the saga on the ground floor.
Nor was it ever meant to stand alone.

Births - May 24, 2002
Lionicio "Necho" Garcia and Tabetha Judd of Lubbock, a son weighing 6 pounds, 7 ounces at 11:39 p.m. May 16 in University Medical Center.

Nation's factories show improvement in April
WASHINGTON (AP)  The nation's factories, hardest hit by last year's recession, saw fresh signs of improvement in April, with orders for costly manufactured goods rising for a fifth straight month.

Business Expo draws big crowds
The Lubbock Chamber of Commerce's Regional Business Expo may have set a record based on the sheer number of people who made their way to the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center on Thursday.

Business Q & A - May 23, 2002
Q: I'm a 34-year-old single mom with two teen-agers. I'm due to receive $250,000 as a settlement. What should I do with the money? Would it be wise to pay cash for a home? What about tuition and retirement?

Enron legal fees near $6 million
HOUSTON (AP)  Enron's primary law firm in its bankruptcy proceeding has billed the company almost $6 million in legal fees and expenses for January.

Andersen lawyer tries to show papers exist
HOUSTON (AP)  Arthur Andersen LLP's lawyer tried to show Wednesday the same voluminous e-mails and documents being used to prosecute the accounting firm for obstruction of justice were preserved when alleged mass shredding took place last year.

Senators vote to subpoena White House on Enron
WASHINGTON (AP)  Senators voted Wednesday to issue Congress' first subpoenas to the Bush White House, demanding turnover of information about staff contacts with Enron officials.
The vote was 9-8, along party lines, and some Republicans accused majority Democrats of having political motives.

Shredding unknown to official
HOUSTON (AP)  The head of Arthur Andersen LLP's forensic investigative unit said Thursday he didn't know documents were being shredded when he was summoned to the firm's Houston office in late October to look into accounting problems at then-client Enron Corp.

Big 12 BASEBALL tournament
ARLINGTON (AP)  Matt Hopper went 4-for-5 with a homer and Daniel Bruce drove in three runs as Nebraska won its ninth straight game, beating Baylor 11-9 Wednesday in the first round of the Big 12 tournament.

Red-hot Raiders roll in 12
ARLINGTON  For 11 innings Wednesday, Texas Tech and Kansas State played the match game  anything you can do I can do, but not necessarily better.
The Red Raiders and Wildcats matched each other pitch for pitch, big play for big play and error for error with plenty of missed opportunities to go around. Finally, Tech tired of that game and decided to take its baseballs and go home, or at least, back to its hotel.

Saluting a Tech legend turned 90
When Polk Robison first showed up in Lubbock, it was 1929 with the country seized by an economic chaos that would come to be known as The Depression.

Real Heroes
SGT. KYLE BATTIN was quietly patrolling South Plains College's Levelland campus on Nov. 13. Only a few minutes later, he was crawling on the floor through a burning, smoke-filled house to rescue a 1-year-old child from a crib. Police work can turn from routine to emergency very quickly.

Congrats, Grads!
HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION is an exciting time of closing one part of life and beginning another. It is a time of mixed emotions, with a twinge of sadness, which comes from leaving high school behind, and a rush of excitement  which also comes from leaving high school behind.
The graduates who will be saying goodbye to their high schools in ceremonies this weekend will see big changes in their lives.

Red-Light Cameras
LUBBOCK POLICE NEED all the help they can get to stop crimes of all types on our streets.
That's why the Citizens Traffic Commission continues to push forward on its efforts to place cameras at intersections to take pictures of vehicles when their drivers run red lights.

Texas universities gain in research
WASHINGTON (AP)  Texas universities won more than $900 million in federal research grant money in fiscal year 2000, moving to fifth among academic institutions in winning research grants.

A World of Good in a Box
Anthony Perez and his classmates knew  they just knew  the empty computer boxes would come in handy.
So they received permission to store the boxes in the Harwell Elementary basement. Then the seven fifth- and sixth-graders worked on a plan for the boxes that had arrived full of new computers.

Hollywood welcomes 'country' for boot-tapping music roundup
UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. (AP)  Alan Jackson paid tribute to the thousands of men, women and children killed or injured on Sept. 11 as he accepted the country music award for top single Wednesday for "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)."
"I'm still angry and sad and forever changed about what happened that day and I thank God for sending the words and music down to me because I believe I was an instrument for that for whatever reason," Jackson said of his patriotic anthem. "I don't feel like I can accept the award for this song without sharing it and dedicating it to the thousands of people, men, women and children, who died and suffered and are still suffering all because of that cowardly and heartless attack on America and mankind. So this is for all of them."

Movie departuers
According to booking announcements made by Lubbock movie theater officials this week, the following films are expected to depart Friday:

Tube talk
Today
"Danielle Steel's Jewels"  6 p.m. This five-hour miniseries starring Annette O'Toole and Anthony Andrews covers four decades in the lives of an American socialite and the English royal family into which she marries. (LIFE)

Chiefs slip past Claude 5-4; Windthorst downs Ira
PLAINVIEW  Crosbyton pitcher Mario Munoz struck out 10 and escaped two late-inning jams Thursday to preserve a 5-4 victory against Claude in the first game of a best-of-three Class 1A regional quarterfinal series at Wilder Field.

Bulldogs unravel in loss to Holliday
ABILENE  Holliday had only two hits Thursday, but that was enough to win the opening game of their Class 2A best-of-three regional semifinal series against Tahoka.

Frenship lands new head coach in Thompson
Frenship didn't find a new head baseball coach in its own backyard, so the school district and athletic director Bobby Davis expanded the search a little.
Even with the net cast further, though, Frenship was able to find someone pretty familiar with Lubbock and the Tiger athletic program.

Crosbyton begins 1A series today
The Crosbyton baseball team will try to get past a familiar hurdle when it opens a best-of-three Class 1A regional quarterfinal series today against Claude.

Tyler hires Midland Lee defensive coordinator
TYLER  (AP) Tyler Independent School District trustees on Wednesday hired Midland Lee defensive coordinator and former Floydada football star Kelvin Ratliff as the new head football coach at John Tyler High School.

'El Dia de los Ninos'
On April 30, the VOICES (Volunteers Offering Involvement in Communities to Expand Services) coalition launched "El Dia de los Ninos" as a day during which we celebrate young Americans.
VOICES collaborated with several community agencies to offer an event at the Science Spectrum that would commemorate the occasion. The response was tremendous.

Hearing Ordinance Next?
As a smoker, I respect the ordinance that passed, but why do we have to deal with the many people who have the loud car stereos that BOOM wherever they are?

All Saints 'Ambassadors'
Re: The letter "Student Ambassadors For City" (A-J, 5-1).
I would like to thank the letter writer from Gainesville for taking the time to contact The A-J. She was very complimentary of a school group she met during a trip to South Padre Island.

Reunion
Frenship High School Class of 1992  June 7-June 8, Buddy Holly Center and County Line Restaurant. MrsAmrca@aol.com or 745-5543.

Children at camp are also online
NEW YORK  Want to catch a peek of children having fun summer camp? The Web site Bunk1.com has its eye on nearly 1,000 camps in the United States and Canada.

Tiptoe through the tulips to support a tutu
Tiptoeing through tulips can support toe shoes and tutus.
That is, people who attend Ballet Lubbock's Sip and See Gardens of Lubbock Tour will benefit the organization's scholarship fund.

Tree that survived tornado faces bulldozers
Pat Marx has formed a bond with an ugly tree.
Ugly and scarred, this Arizona cypress evergreen obviously has grown as much in her heart as in the ground near the intersection of 10th Street and Avenue X in Lubbock.

Despite funding change, Sharp Freeway on track
The executive director of Texas' roads and highways said Thursday that a change in funding policy last year was more a word of caution than an attempt to make area districts pay more for paving projects.

Fired officer says memory hazy on death
Former Lubbock police officer Wade Lee said Wednesday he does not have an accurate memory of firing the shot that killed a fellow officer during a SWAT operation last year.
"What I believed happened couldn't have happened," Lee said.

LISD project awarded to Wood
The Lubbock Independent School District Board awarded a $292,000 bid on Thursday to David Wood Construction for replacement of the Monterey High School roof and ceiling.

City clears way for oil drilling on lake's shore
City Council members voted Thursday to sell oil and gas leasehold interests at Lake Alan Henry after a debate on whether drilling will establish a precedent for unwanted development around the lake.

School district taking bids for roof work
The Lubbock Independent School District board will consider a bid for roof repair for Monterey High School's auditorium during a meeting at 5 p.m. today in the LISD Administration Building, 1628 19th St.

Ex-Tech educator, historian Graves dies
Lawrence Graves, a former Texas Tech history professor and administrator who published "A History of Lubbock" and "The Handbook of Texas," died Wednesday at his home in Katy. He was 84.

Tech implements new safety policy for van drivers
As the government renews its safety warning against letting inexperienced drivers operate 15-passenger vans, Texas Tech and area churches are addressing the safety issue with policy changes and increased education.

Botox: Fountain of youth in a syringe
It may be a toxin, but it is fast becoming the cosmetic nectar for hundreds of thousands of men and women across the country.
It is an ephemeral fountain of youth in extremely small doses, dispensed in settings ranging from one-on-one intimacy to group parties  from an examination room in a physician's office to hotel meeting rooms and cocktail soirees at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas.

Data say obesity affects more Americans
In 1991, obesity affected more than 15 percent of adults in on ly four states (Michigan, West Virginia, Louisiana and Missis sippi). By 2000, 39 states had reached that level, according to a study that found "the increasing prevalence of obesity is a major public health concern."

Small doses
VistaCare is host for Hospice Hoe-Down
VistaCare Hospice will play host for Hoe-Down for Hospice on Wednesday.

Young guns dominate Coca-Cola 600 qualifying
CONCORD, N.C. (AP)  The assault on NASCAR from the twentysomething drivers hasn't abated, with rookie Jimmie Johnson setting an event record Thursday in winning the pole for the Coca-Cola 600.

Police aim to pinpoint cause of Levy's death
WASHINGTON (AP)  Police investigating Chandra Levy's death said Thursday most evidence points to murder, but the medical examiner said a determination probably won't come before next week.

Inexpensive outdoor vacation options booming at parks, forests
WALDEN, Colo. (AP)  There are stacks of firewood labeled itsy-bitsy, medium and big honking stuff. In the trim outhouse is a stack of feminine supplies. Folksy and convenient, the Dancing Moose yurt in the Colorado State Forest could be a harbinger of 21st century camping.

Missing intern's remains found
WASHINGTON (AP)  The remains of Chandra Levy were found in a Washington park Wednesday, ending an agonizing 13-month search for the former federal intern whose disappearance riveted the nation and cost a congressman his career.
Police said they still had no idea how Levy died.

Judge hears appeal of Manson follower
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (AP)  A judge hearing the appeal of a parole rejection for Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten said Thursday that the board has failed to give Van Houten any guidance on how she could become eligible for release.

Bush's warnings target Iraq, Iran
MOSCOW (AP)  Bearing words of warning across a continent, President Bush told wary European leaders Thursday "we've got to use all means at our disposal to deal with Saddam Hussein" and urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to sever nuclear ties with Iran.

Ex-Klansman guilty of '63 church blast
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP)  Closing the books on the deadliest crime of the civil rights era, a jury convicted an aging former Klansman of murder Wednesday for the 1963 church bombing that killed four black girls and shook the nation's soul.

Remarks about turban spark airport shooting
KENNER, La. (AP)  A man with a shotgun wounded two people at the New Orleans airport Wednesday, telling investigators that he fired because people made fun of his turban.

House passes anti-bioterrorism bill
WASHINGTON (AP)  Trying to anticipate "the most evil mind," the House voted Wednesday to spend billions of dollars to prepare hospitals and build vaccine stockpiles for a bioterrorism attack and to increase security at borders, laboratories and waterworks.

Bioterrorism bill passes in Senate
WASHINGTON (AP)  The Senate, itself the target of an anthrax attack last year, sent President Bush a broad bioterrorism bill on Thursday devoting $4.6 billion to stockpiling vaccines, improving food inspections and boosting security for water systems.

Senate approves bill enhancing Bush's global trading authority
WASHINGTON(AP) In a display of bipartisanship, the Senate approved legislation Thursday night that strengthens President Bush's ability to negotiate global trade deals while providing billions in new benefits for American workers hurt by imports.

Maurice Healy
Services for Maurice J. Healy, 87, of Lubbock, will be at 3 p.m. Saturday in St. Paul's Episcopal Church with Harry Allen and the Rev. Bonner Teeter officiating.

Eddie Peters
ABERNATHY  Graveside services for Eddie Robert Peters, 59, of Lubbock, formerly of Abernathy and Portales, N.M., will be at 11 a.m. Saturday in Abernathy Cemetery with the Rev. Arlen Ankle officiating.

Luna Lee Smith
BROWNFIELD  Services for Luna Lee Smith, 96, will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at Calvary Baptist Church in Brownfield with the Rev. Pat Riley officiating.

Lonzo Colbert Jr.
LITTLEFIELD  Services for Lonzo "Sport" Colbert Jr., 83, of Littlefield will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Irvin Street First Baptist Church in Littlefield with the Rev. John Nunley officiating.

Georgia Hollinsworth
Services for Georgia Hollinsworth, 87, of Lubbock will be at 10 a.m. Saturday in Abby Chapel of Resthaven Funeral Home with Warren Davis officiating.

Ted Williams Jr.
SUNDOWN  Services for Ted "Spike" Williams Jr., 44, of Sundown will be at 2 p.m. Friday at First Baptist Church in Sundown with the Rev. Dale Cain officiating.

Lucy Smith
SPUR  A rosary for Lucy Ann Garcia Smith, 45, of Lubbock will be at 11 a.m. today at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Spur.

Mary Snodgrass
TEXICO, N.M.  Services for Mary Ruth "Marue" Snodgrass, 90, of Amarillo will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at the First Baptist Church of Texico with the Rev. Joel Horne officiating.

Clinton Green
Graveside services for Clinton Green, 90, of Lubbock will be at 10 a.m. Saturday in the City of Lubbock Cemetery.

Crime wrap - May 23, 2002
Blotter information is compiled from reports filed with the Lubbock Police Department. To report information about these or other crimes, call Crime Line at 741-1000. In some cases, cash rewards are offered. Callers may remain anonymous.

Police blotter - May 23, 2002
Blotter information is compiled from reports filed with the Lubbock Police Department. To report information about these or other crimes, call Crime Line at 741-1000. In some cases, cash rewards are offered. Callers may remain anonymous.
AGGRAVATED ASSAULT

Venturi wrapping up 35 years as golf analyst
DUBLIN, Ohio (AP)  Ken Venturi has uttered millions of words during his 35 years as a golf analyst for CBS. But as his final telecast nears, he best remembers a moment when he was left speechless.

Legendary golfer Snead dead at 89
Sam Snead, the golfing great known as "Slammin' Sam" who used the sweetest swing in the game to win seven major championships and a record 81 PGA Tour events, died Thursday at age 89.

Stars GM will let goalie Belfour walk
DALLAS (AP)  Ed Belfour, who is coming off the worst of his five seasons with the Dallas Stars, will become an unrestricted free agent July 1 after the Stars announced Wednesday that they won't re-sign the veteran goalie.

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL ROUNDUP - May 23, 2002
MINNEAPOLIS  Mike Lamb, a late addition to the lineup, hit a three-run homer and scored three times to help Texas snap a five-game losing streak with a 6-5 win Wednesday over Minnesota.

Bryant feeling better
LOS ANGELES (AP)  Kobe Bryant was on the mend Thursday, back to practice with the Los Angeles Lakers. He said he was feeling better, although he hadn't eaten for more than 24 hours.

Detroit edges Avalanche in OT
DENVER (AP)  Fredrik Olausson scored his first playoff goal in 10 years at 12:44 of overtime as the Detroit Red Wings beat the Colorado Avalanche 2-1 Wednesday night to take a 2-1 lead in the Western Conference finals.

New Mexico parks limited by drought
It's almost easier to figure out what will be closed around New Mexico on Memorial Day than what's open as the threat of fire narrows recreational choices for hikers, bicyclists, boaters, campers and picnickers.

Council aims to remove prejudice against those with AIDS
NEW YORK  The international humanitarian arm of the National Council of Churches is joining religious leaders in South Africa for a campaign to remove the stigma of AIDS.
Church World Service and the South African Council of Churches held concerts, prayer services and other events recently to end prejudice against those who suffer from the disease. Some estimates say 1 in 5 adults are infected.

Rome's Pantheon
ROME  Everyday is a holiday around the Pantheon, where tourists gather to pay their respects to antiquity.

South Texas farmers block truck traffic in protest
PHARR (AP)  A contingent of South Texas farmers parked their John Deeres into a "tractorcade" Thursday  blocking truck traffic into the United States to protest Mexico's growing water debt with Texas.

Meat market charged with dumping deer
GREENVILLE (AP)  The owner of a Dallas-area meat market has been indicted in Hunt County on felony charges in the dumping of more than 700 deer carcasses near streams that feed Lake Tawakoni.

Convicted killer put to death
HUNTSVILLE (AP)  Convicted killer Johnny Joe Martinez was executed Wednesday evening for fatally stabbing a Corpus Christi convenience store clerk nine years ago.
In a lengthy final statement, Martinez was apologetic and bitter, blaming his state appointed appeals lawyers for his death.

MARIJUANA SEIZED
LAREDO (AP)  U.S. Customs agents seized a large cache of marijuana during a routine inspection of a tractor-trailer, officials said Wednesday. Drug-sniffing dogs detected bundles on top of a shipment of beer entering the United States from Mexico on Tuesday. Agents found the bundles to be 1,787 pounds of marijuana with an estimated street value of $1.7 million.

Charges dropped against suspect in McKinney shootings
McKINNEY (AP)  Charges have been dropped against the 46-year-old man who had been identified as the chief suspect in last week's shooting at a McKinney hospital in which one nurse was killed and another wounded, Dallas-Fort Worth television station WFAA-TV reported Thursday.
The station said it had no additional details.

Operator of MicroAge pleads guilty to wire fraud
A man accused of bilking his company out of more than $270,000 pleaded guilty to charges of wire fraud in federal court Thursday.
John Howard Games, 43, of Lubbock admitted to embezzling the money from the company he used to run, formerly known as MicroAge Computer Center.

State leaders seek ways to provide help
SANTA FE (AP)  State leaders are developing plans for delivering emergency relief to people and towns as the drought continues to tighten its grip on New Mexico.

Reward offered in dog burning case
A small dog burned to death while trapped in a makeshift shed Wednesday has prompted a citizen group to raise more than $1,500 to find the killer or killers.

Man scammed by out-of-state con artist
When Jon Williams responded to a classified advertisement in the newspaper, he thought he had stumbled onto the job of a lifetime.
He was promised more than $3,000 a week driving glamorous adult entertainment stars around town in luxury automobiles.

Couple linked to immigrant smuggling
AUSTIN (AP)  Valente Sillero and his family impressed their Hays County neighbors as a hardworking lot that made their living at day jobs and running a popular cafe in the Niederwald community, about 20 miles south of Austin.
That wasn't the half of it, federal prosecutors say  Sillero, his wife, two sons and a daughter-in-law ran a more successful venture, smuggling illegal immigrants into the United States.

Explosion, fire in California residential complex injures three; FBI says no indication of terrorism
LOS ANGELES (AP)  An explosion and fire at a three-story residential complex in the San Fernando Valley on Friday injured three people, one of them critically.
FBI and police bomb experts responded as a precaution. Authorities said there was no indication of what had caused the late-morning blast or that there was any connection to a recent federal warning that terrorists could target the nation's apartment buildings.

Sam Snead, golfing great, dies at age 89
Sam Snead, the golfing great known as "Slammin' Sam" who used the sweetest swing in the game to win seven major championships and a record 81 PGA Tour events, died Thursday at age 89.

Study: Rubber bullets too deadly for riots
LONDON (AP)  Some types of rubber bullets used by police to restrain unruly protesters kill and maim too often to be considered a safe method of crowd control, new research concludes.

India, Pakistan see escalating tensions
SRINAGAR, India (AP)  Nuclear-armed neighbors India and Pakistan exchanged deadly shelling and threats of war Thursday, with New Delhi saying it "accepted the challenge thrown by our neighbor" and Islamabad warning of retaliation that "would not be good for India."

Warlord releases 512 prisoners; Brits see action in Afghanistan
\\KABUL, Afghanistan (AP)  Working for reconciliation at the urging of the prime minister, a warlord on Thursday freed a third batch of prisoners captured months ago during fighting with the Taliban and held in an overcrowded prison in northern Afghanistan.

Failed peace efforts may push Colombia to war
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP)  After a disheartening try at peace talks, Colombians appear poised to elect a new president this weekend who would give war a chance as a way of ending decades of guerrilla bloodshed.

Bomb concealed in tanker truck explodes at Israeli fuel depot
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP)  A bomb attached to a tanker truck exploded Thursday at a huge fuel depot near densely populated Tel Aviv  part of what experts said is a relentless new campaign by Palestinian militants to carry out a large-scale terror attack.

Mexico building migrant aid towers
MONTERREY, Mexico (AP)  The Mexican government is erecting solar-powered rescue towers that will glow at night to help migrants lost in the desolate stretches of the Mexico-U.S. border, the director of the National Institute of Migration announced Wednesday.

Bush calls on reluctant allies to hang tough against terrorism
BERLIN (AP)  President Bush told skeptical allies "we've got to be tough" on terrorism Wednesday as thousands of anti-war protesters greeted his arrival in Europe and German leaders questioned U.S. hopes of toppling Saddam Hussein.
Opening a seven-day, four-nation trip, Bush warned that Europe may be terrorists' next target.

Orthodox Jews collect body parts
JERUSALEM (AP)  At their headquarters in an underground bomb shelter, ultra-Orthodox Jewish men in pristine white shirts, black vests and black pants are on call for what they believe is God's mission.